Abstract:
ABSTRACT
MULTIMODALITY IN THE TECHNICAL AGE: A HISTORICAL
SURVEY OF TECHNOLOGY AND WRITING
by
© Christina Deann Kraker 2011
Master of Arts in English
California State University, Chico
Summer 2011
This thesis begins with an examination of the spread of literacy during the
period spanning medieval and Renaissance Europe. By analyzing the relationship
between the proliferation of literacy and the advent of literate technology, this thesis
posits that the benefits of literacy are culturally imagined through particular, goaloriented
uses of literate technologies. Using this idea as lens for analysis, chapter two
argues that the proliferation of Internet technology during the 21st century is
systematically similar to the proliferation of manuscript and print technology in medieval
and Renaissance Europe. Influenced by the idea that the benefits of literate technologies
are always specifically connected to the practices of a time, place and culture, chapter
three closely analyzes and critiques Gunther Kress’ work on multimodality and Internet
technology. Chapter three suggests that Kress misinterprets Ferdinand de Saussure’s
linguistic theory of the sign, which leads to great theoretical consequences in Kress’
evaluation of the impacts of technology on 21st century Western literate practice. Chapter
four looks at three polemic applications of Kress’ theory to further demonstrate the
problems that arise when the proliferation and advent of literate technologies are equated
to cognitive and affective growth in human potential. This thesis concludes that the
relationship between cultural practice, literacy and technology are dialectical—meaning
that any said ‘benefits’ of technology are interdependently connected to cultural practice.
